Great Smoky Mountains National Park seeks volunteers for trail maintenance on ... - M

[WhiteBlaze]

Great Smoky Mountains National Park seeks volunteers for trail maintenance on ... Maryville Daily Times In recognition of National Trails Day, Great Smoky Mountains National Park will host three volunteer trail projects, including the annual Appalachian Trail ...

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[Ox97GaMe]

Come join us for the fun. This year, the focus is on installing and replacing waterbars between Newfound Gap and Charlies Bunyon. We usually have between 125 and 150 volunteers, and there is an option to sign up for an all women's crew as well.

This event is an annual fundraiser for Friends of the Smokies and the Trails Forever programs in the park. There is a $17 fee as part of the sign up. Volunteers receive a commemorative T-shirt and there is a picnic style dinner at Metcalf Bottoms afterwards. Meeting place is Sugarlands Visitor Center at 7:30am June 5. Crews will be assigned at that time.

[beartripper]

Just went to the site. No more volunteers are needed.

[Ox97GaMe]

Beartripper,
I had a meeting tonight. It was stated that registration forms are still coming in and we are at just under 100 volunteers currently. We anticipate having about 125 before it is all finalized. I will verify with the volunteer coordinator. I would think the only restriction at this point would be due to getting proper number of shirts and proper amount of food for the picnic ordered.

[Ox97GaMe]

Got confirmation. The SMHC project along the AT from Newfound Gap to Charlies Bunyon has reached maximum capacity. There is a limit to the size of each crew because this is a very high traffic area for dayhikers and we need to limit the impacts to this traffic.

there are still open slots for volunteer crews through the park service projects. There are projects on both the NC and TN sides of the park. Park volunteer coordinator is Christine Hoyer. If you are interested in volunteering on one of their projects, you can go to the GSMNP website or call the park headquarters and ask about NTD projects.

[ed bell]

Awesome to hear that the participant capacity has been reached for the project's sake. Not that it hasn't been already brought up in the group meetings, but if you have that kind of response this far out it seems like a second project ought to be seriously considered to take advantage of the willing participants.

[Ox97GaMe]

We ususally can accomodate larger number of volunteers. Our issue this year is that Clingman's Dome road will still be closed. That cut the total mileage of trails planned to be worked in half. Usually, we could plan to have crews go out as far as Silers Bald to the south because it is fairly easy access from the dome. So, instead, this year we have two overnight crews going in, one to Spence and the other to Cosby Knob. These crews were limited in size because of the restriction on shelter space availability for those dates. Next year, we should be ready to accomodate as many volunteers as we can get signed up.